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(upbeat music) - Welcome to our look at Romans chapter 15 in daily drive time
devotions. I am Pastor Tom Holliday, and we are looking at verses one to seven
of Romans 15 today. As we begin this look at this chapter of Romans, I'd like to
remind you of the overall outline of the book of Romans once again that we've
been walking through together many, many times.

We've talked together about these five separate truths that impact our lives and
change our history that are found in the book of Romans. Romans chapter one,
two, three, 20 talks about understanding the truth about sin. When I understand
that truth, what it really is, and how God has really changed it, that impacts
my life and changes my history and changes history.

The second major truth is understanding the truth in chapter three, verse 21
through five, 21. The main third truth is the truth about sanctification or
Christian growth in Romans six to eight. Romans nine to 11 talks about the truth
of God's sovereignty, understanding that truth.

And now we're in the section, Romans chapter 12, one, to the end of the book of
Romans, Romans 16, of understanding the truth about service. And as we have
talked these last few weeks, we've talked about understanding our differences
and the fact that if I'm going to serve with other people, I have to understand
that I'm different from other people and how do I accept those differences. As
we jump into Romans chapter 15 and then next week, Romans chapter 16, we are
getting in to the most ignored section of the book of Romans.

We're going to learn some amazing truths in this section that is not often looked
at. We're going to look at some insight into our relationships with others that you
don't see anywhere else in the Bible. Some importance of God's word that is very
clearly laid out for us.

We're going to see in these verses the heart and the organization of Paul's
ministry and the unique ways that God has of using each of us in serving others.
As we start our look at Romans 15, looking at verses one to three, we're closing
our look at what we saw in Romans chapter 14 last week, this idea of how we
serve one another. And Romans 15, one to three talks about living a life to
build others up.

15, one and two says this, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of
the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for
his good to build him up. These verses are a reminder, there are a couple of
choices I have to make every day.

There are a couple of choices you have to make today. I can choose between doing
just what I want or building other people up. Even if what I want is okay, is
the right thing to do.

As we looked at last week, there are some right things to do that can hurt other
people's faith. I could do those things, but I'm making a choice. I can choose
to do just what I want or I can choose to build others up.

Or the second choice that this verse reminds us of is I can choose to please my
neighbor or I can choose to please myself. He's not talking about sinfully
pleasing yourself here. He's talking about living a life where you're just
living for your freedoms, enjoying life, but you're not making a difference in
anybody else's life.

If you live just to please yourself, just to enjoy life, even your life in God,
just for yourself, you will not build others up. There are some sacrifices that
have to be made. There are some limits that you have to put on yourself.

And there's a decision that has to be made, the decision to please your
neighbor. And if you make that choice, when I make that choice, if you build up
others, you'll have much more joy in the end than in living to please yourself.
These verses are all about what you should do if you are strong.

Remember last week we talked about being strong in faith or weak in faith. These
are about what to do if you're strong in faith. You should bear with the
failings of the weak if you're strong in faith.

You should not live to please yourself. You should seek to please your neighbor
for his good to build him up. Now, what should you do if you're weak in faith?

Well, that's pretty obvious. Get strong. Start growing in faith so you can help
other people in faith.

You don't stay weak in faith. You don't stay a baby. You grow in faith.

So the Bible says you please others. You please your neighbor. Now, it's
interesting.

The Bible tells us to please our neighbor, but it tells us not to live to please
men. Two different uses there. One, when I'm living to please others, that's the
whole goal of my life, that is meeting my need for acceptance.

But these verses, when it talks about pleasing our neighbor, that is meeting
their needs. There is a big difference between needing to please others and
deciding to please others. And this is about deciding to please others so that
they can grow in Christ.

Now, the question I have is how? How do you live to build others? It's one thing
to say, these are two choices we have to make every day.

It's quite another thing to have the strength to make unselfish choices day
after day after day. How do you do that? Well, verses three to seven talk about
the how.

Let me read those verses. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is
written, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. For everything
that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance
and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity
among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus. So that with one heart and mouth,
you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another
then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God.

Unselfishness. I need the power to be unselfish. So where do I find that power?

What these verses talk about is good for me as a parent, it's good for me as a
coworker, it's good for me as a friend, it's good for me as a servant of Jesus
Christ. There are four things in these verses that give the power to be
unselfish. First, you follow the example of Christ.

Even Christ, verse three says, did not live to please himself. Anytime you think
you're making a big sacrifice by giving up something because you love someone,
remember Jesus. Think, just think of the rights that Jesus chose to give up when
he came to this earth.

God, spanning all of the heavens and he chose to limit himself for a time to one
body in one place to serve us. And the Bible says, the insults of those who
insult you have fallen on me. Obviously we see that in the cross as Jesus was
being insulted.

I was thinking he had to face this all his life and he had to choose to give up
his rights all of his life. Even when he was a child and another child insulted
him while he was playing, he's God. He could have caused, he could have caused
the ground to open up and swallow that child and close up again.

He would have never been bothered by another child again. And yet he chose to
take the insults. He gave up his rights.

Jesus was hungry while he was in ministry. You remember the story one time of he
and his disciples walking through a field and they had to get grain off of the,
out of the field that day and eat it raw in order to satisfy their hunger. Now
Jesus made everything, he's the creator and he could have instantly called up a
wonderful banquet but he gave up that right.

Follow the example of Christ whenever you're struggling with being selfish and
unselfish, look to him. A second thing to do is to rely on the encouragement of
the Bible. Now it's interesting that right in the middle of all this talk about
serving others, all of a sudden Paul in verse four starts talking about the
Bible and the hope that it brings.

Why does he do that? Why is there a note about the Bible and the hope that it
brings right in the midst of this passage on selfishness because of what the
Bible brings into our lives? Verse four, everything that was written in the past
was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the
scriptures, we might have hope, hope.

The more hope you have, the less selfishly you live. People who are not
encouraged, people who don't have much hope, they aren't very good at building
others up. They have to hold on to everything themselves.

They're afraid but with encouragement and with hope, you can stay unselfish
because you're holding on to something else outside of yourself with hope. With
hope, Jesus was able to lay down even his very life and others have been able to
lay down their life. Hebrews 6:19 reminds us that hope is an anchor for the
soul.

If you're going to serve other people unselfishly, you've got to have an anchor for
your soul and it has to not be in yourself. It has to be outside of yourself.
Now notice here, it says that our endurance plus the Bible's encouragement
equals hope.

I want to talk a little bit about that more tomorrow. But before that, a third
truth that helps us to be unselfish. Recognize that the goal of our unity
together is worship.

I love these verses that talk about with one heart and one mouth, you may
glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the goal of it. One
of the reasons I love those verses is, they're the verses that Shondell and I
had read as we were walking out of the church after our wedding day.

And so they're very personal verses to me. But as I think about these verses,
they're not just obviously for a couple. They're for the whole church.

It starts in each relationship, but these are verses for the entire church. And
these verses remind us that the ultimate purpose of unity is not for ourselves.
It is so that we can worship and glorify God.

If you think that life is all about you and making your life work better, of
course you can't be unselfish. But once you realize that life is all about
glorifying God, it's much easier to make the unselfish choice. The first thing
was follow the example of Christ.

The second, rely on the encouragement of the Bible in order to be unselfish. The
third truth is recognize that the goal of unity is worship. The fourth truth is
the same as the first truth.

Follow the example of Christ. He goes back to that in verse seven. Accept one
another then just as Christ accepted you.

The close of this passage about the weak and strong, he says, accept one
another. Now it's interesting, when Paul began talking about this way back in
chapter 14 verse two, he began by saying, accept one another. And here in 15
seven, again, he says, accept one another.

That's one of the keys. As Christians, there are some things that we must agree
on. Or we're not Christians.

If we don't agree on the fact that Jesus is the way to salvation, if we don't
agree on the fact that we have a problem with sin and we need his forgiveness,
then we're not even Christians. So there's no agreement there. There's some
things that we must agree on.

But with everything else, all those but those things that we must agree on, we
will inevitably disagree. And so we must accept one another. The goal of
Christian unity is not to get everybody to agree with me.

The goal, first goal, is to accept one another because Jesus accepted me. Jesus
accepted you. That's where you start.

I've talked to a lot of people about the issue of selfishness and unselfishness.
And I've never met anyone who doesn't say, yeah, I struggle with being selfish
every day of my life. So where do we find the strength to endure?

How can we be different through the truth that God gives us? And we can only do
it one day at a time. So let's pray right now that God will give us the strength
today to build others up rather than just living for ourselves.

Father, we focus on your truth. And we do want to follow the example of Christ.
We remember right now in our hearts how unselfishly he gave himself for us.

And we are grateful. And we pray that in his example and in our relationship
with him, he would give us the strength to be unselfish in our relationships
today. Lord, help the hope that you give through your word and through our
endurance to impact our hearts in such a way that we don't have to be afraid.

We don't have to hang on to life so tightly. But instead, we can loosen our grip
on this life and tighten our grip on your hope. And because of that, have more
confidence, more security in our ability to serve others.

God help us to remember and realize that the goal of it all is worship towards
you. It's not about us anyway. If it was, then it would be appropriate to be
selfish, but it's not, it's about you.

And so as we remember that, help the selfishness scale to go down in our lives
and the worship scale to go up. And Lord, once again, we say, help us to follow
Jesus. He accepts us.

He accepts me. And I am grateful for that. And I pray that in his forgiveness
and acceptance of me, you would give me the strength to forgive and to accept
someone, maybe that I've been having a hard time forgiving, hard time accepting
lately.

Jesus, help me to follow you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Well, tomorrow we're going to focus on what verses four and five have to say about
the Bible and our hope.